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While the BJP-led government in Assam has decided that, no government jobs will be given to the persons having more than two children after January 1, 2021, the opposition Congress and AIUDF opposed the policy and termed it as a BJP agenda.

Former Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi termed the move as unjustified. He criticized the BJP-led Assam government saying that such a move is unheard of in the country. “In a country like India, there is no such law anywhere. While I agree with having a population policy, I do not see any justification for having such a law dehorning the people having more than two children for getting government job. I do not support it. I do not think it is a proper step,” Gogoi said.

The former chief minister further said that, the move is BJP propaganda. “Everybody knows that they are anti-Muslims,” Gogoi added.

On the other hand, AIUDF General Secretary Aminul Islam said that, it is a way to cheat the SC, ST and Muslim communities as they will suffer more because of this policy. He added that the move is a part of upper caste politics.

“According to the Assam government decision taken in the cabinet meeting, the people having maximum two children can apply for government jobs. I think that the government should identify the main cause for which there has been a rapid population growth. The formula they are trying to adopt is not correct. We think that, the main causes of population growth are illiteracy and poverty and the government should work to reduce poverty and to make the people literate. The population growth will be reduced if the government conducts awareness camps etc. The SCs, STs and Muslims will suffer from this move,” Aminul Islam said.

Defending the government policy, Assam Health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma refuted all allegations and said that: “It is wrong to assume that minority will always have more children than majority population. If that is the exemption, it is bad. I think instead of encouraging minority to have more children, as a media, as a NGO, as a political party, we should work with them and encourage curb population explosion.”

The minister further added that after the Assam Assembly approved the population policy, people having more than two children were barred from contesting the municipal and rural elections as well. “We want our government employee to be the role model for the society. So we have adopted that no government employee will have more than two children during the time of appointment or during the time of employment,” he said.

Assam Social Welfare Minister and the leader of Bodoland People’s Front (BPF), Pramila Rani Brahma said that, it is a good initiative by the Assam government.

“The population in Assam is now imbalanced. So it is necessary to adopt this to balance the population. The decision is taken not based on minority or Hindus. The government has taken the decision to balance the population growth,” Pramila Rani Brahma said.

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About Hemanta Kr Nath

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Hemanta Kumar Nath is a Guwahati-based journalist. He had worked with India Blooms News Service (IBNS), Meghalaya Times, Global News Network among others.